Gillingham FC Forum

- Southend trail in wins over the Gills 39 to 46 but won both meetings last season 2-0 and won the match before that 4-0.
- Since beating Southend 3 times in the 2016/17 season, the Gills have won 1 of the next 5 meetings - the victory coming in the Football League Trophy.
- Southend won their last away league fixture, a 1-0 win at MK Dons. It ended a sequence of 13 away league games without a win and 5 straight league defeats on the road.
- Southend maintained their League 1 status last season by winning 2 of their last 18 league fixtures. They have won 1 this season making it 3 wins and 18 defeats in their last 28 league games. They have lost 11 of their 14 games league and cup this season.
- Southend have conceded the most first half goals in the division (12) whilst the Gills have conceded the fewest second half goals (2).
- Southend and Bolton have conceded the most goals in the division (25) albeit Southend from 10 games played, one more than Bolton.

14.59 Kick Off [ 4 - 1 - 3 - 2 ]

15.02
Ndjoli forces the goalkeeper to force a shot round the post for a corner.

15.06
Hanlan's turn to force the goalkeeper to make a good stop. The Gills win a series of corners. Lee then forces a fine save but is flagged offside.

15.30
Mark Byrne has the ball in the net but Hanlan is flagged offside.

15.43
GOAL! Gillingham 1-0 Southend: Jones
The Gills have only won 2 of the 6 league games they have scored first in however Southend have lost all 7 after conceding first.

15.44
Olly Lee hits the bar and the ball is judged not to have crossed the line.

15.46 Half time 1-0
The Gills have only led at half time twice in the league this season - a win resulted at home and a draw away. The only second half goals conceded were scored by Tranmere who secured a draw after being 2-0 down at the break.

16.02
The second half kicks off.

16.03
GOAL! Gillingham 2-0 Southend: O'Keefe

16.05
Hanlan forces the goalkeeper to save with his feet.

16.15
GOAL! Gillingham 2-1 Southend: Cox
Simon Cox, who loves scoring against the Gills, pulls one back.

16.23
Red Card! Emile Acquan receives a second yellow card for Southend.

16.26
Hanlan somehow curls an effort wide when a goal would have been certain if on target.

16.27
Penalty! Harry Lennon fouls Mikael Ndjoli in the box. Ndjoli takes it and he hits the post.

16.29
Penalty! Max Ehmer is fouled inside the box. Ndjoli sees his spot kick saved!

16.44
GOAL! Gillingham 3-1 Southend: Hanlan

16.52 FULL TIME 3-1

Attendance: 5,091 (704)
Position: 15th
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Match highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKBuuogYzKU
BBC Match Report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49861290

I can understand that the final game of the season where a team needs to win to stay up is a must win match, but I honestly think the next three games starting on Saturday are becoming pretty close to must win games . If Gillingham don't pick up 6 points out of a possible 9, then I think you can say the season is over with regards to any possible chance of a run at a top 6 finish .
One win in the last five makes it seem like " day ja vooo," all over again from last year, and I was dumb enough to think with the great Steve Evans coming in, Scally opening his wallet and letting the moths out to pay for all the players Evans asked for, things would be different this year , doh , can you say FOOLED YOU dumb ass.

Unlike most managers who should be given time (and to bring in their own players) Evans had been at the club watching for quite some time before his appointment. The vast majority of the players are his also so I agree, he needs to repay the investment he has been afforded quickly because so far his record is worse than Lovell's who had a woeful budget and competed in a League 1 campaign that was the hardest ever. Southend won't be easy but they have been on an awful run so this has to be a must win.

This game has gone mental in the second half! Southend offered little, score, get a man sent off, concede two penalties that are missed, concede a goal chalked off for offside, witness the Gills hit the woodwork twice...............

If we don't end up winning this.......!!!!!

MISSED TWO PENALTIES ,your joking right ???

Three goals, three points ,and we don't seem to go up the table, lol. Well done the Gills,now for Portsmouth who seem to have started putting it together, perhaps
the Gills and Pompey can climb the table together ,then gang rush the top six in Feb and March ?

I didn't go to the game but it sounded as if Southend were appalling and will definitely go down without any major help. This should have been a 7-1 (or more, match the 8 against them from the 80s!) and against any other side we would probably have drawn 3-3 or even lost. 3 goals scored, 2 penalties missed, woodwork hit twice, 1 goal disallowed and 1 shot curled wide when the goal was begging. 3 in the end looks like a good win but yet another example of not taking our chances which have cost us dearly in recent games.

A much needed win.I thought we played well,and should have been more than 1-0 up at halftime.We started the second half very well by going 2-0 up in a minute.Cox got his usual goal against us,but we should have killed the game off a lot earlier than we did.Ndjoli failed two score two penalties in as many minutes,and I was worried we would blow our lead.Luckily Hanlan killed the game off for us.A decent performance,and three points.Southend were poor,especially at the back.Their new manager has his work cut out when he arrives.Hopefully we can build on the win.